Sports Without Borders and AFL facilitate 100 tickets to Essendon v West Coast for visiting university students.

As a part of Sports Without Borders dedication to social cohesion and global friendships, SWB was happy to assist Australian University Sport by welcoming the World University Squash Championship participants from 11 countries and inviting them to attend a game of Australian football.

Essendon supplied scarves and the AFL Auskick footballs to promote the game.

The AFL is very keen to continue to grow the game of Australian football both national and Internationally. The recent appointment of Tony Woods as AFL International Manager is a significant step in allocating dedicated resources to facilitate this expected growth and interest.

As part of the AFL Multicultural Visitation Program 25,000 people are getting the opportunity to experience a live football match in 2010. We are delighted to host the 100 visitors from the 2010 Squash Championships and hope they relish the live game experience and perhaps go away more familiar with the game and follow it via the AFL website or through their own television broadcasters.

It's as much an introduction to Australian football as it is a piece of Australian lifestyle for the students drawn from Europe, Egypt, North America, and Asia.

“Most of the athletes and officials have not heard or seen an Australian football game and we are happy to collaborate with the AFL to promote a game which is so Australian and iconic to Melbourne.” Anne King, SWB Director Community and International Development.

Athletes and officials were given the opportunity to attend along with student volunteers from Monash University, who helped make the World University Squash Championships a success.

Sports Without Borders and the AFL work together on a number of initiatives, which help to build understanding and promote social cohesion through sport.

The Peres Centre for Peace AFL team, a SWB project in 2008 gave the team drawn from Israel and Palestine a chance to see their first game of AFL football, which was their first taste at a real game.

The project has been realized fully with members of the team undertaking Auskick Clinics in Israel and Palestine.